Humidity Blues

Following last Saturday's post griping about all the rain we've had this summer, dehumidifiers have been popping up like mushrooms around this household.  First up, these quiet little guys:

They're nice enough.  Direct thermo-electric Peltier junction devices with a fan for the only moving part, they're simple and quiet.  But the problem is that they only remove about a pint each per day.  That's just not going to get it around here.  Still, good for a large closet or a small room.

Next up, Lowe's carries a line of mechanical refrigerator-type dehumidifiers, like this one:

At 70 pints per day, it's moving gallons of moisture out of the air and keeping the relative humidity down around late October levels.  I don't want to know what my electric bill will be for this month, but at least the active mold and mildew growth has been headed off and my lungs are feeling a bit better.

So... check your house's humidity.  50% is ideal, 60% is acceptable, 80% is the danger line where household dust forms up into shoggoths that will steal your spare change and make your lungs feel like an over-full laundry hamper.

First a post on the dangers of dehydration, and now a post on excess humidity, and neither of them particularly fun posts either.  I'll try to come up with something more enjoyable in the near future.